The highly anticipated The Princess and the Frog Disney movie opens wide this Friday. If you've been in a Disney store lately, you can easily tell that Disney has gone all out with this one. The Princess Tiana dolls are gorgeous, and the dress-up clothes and accessories are straight out of little girls' dreams. The new Disney Princess has arrived, and she is going to be a prominent figure under many Christmas trees this year.

The Princess and the Frog is set in New Orleans and presents a musical new take on the old froggy fable. The animation may be the old school 2D style, but computer animation has nothing on the beauty and magic conveyed by the animation in The Princess and the Frog. Traditional 2d animation has a timeless element, and like other Disney Princess movies, this new version of a classic tale will likely be enjoyed by generations to come.

(Photo © Disney)

In the last couple of weeks we talked a little about the famous Thanksgiving Day parade, and now there is another star studded parade event to look forward to. This year, the 26th annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade will feature performances by Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder. Also, kids can look forward to seeing their favorite stars from Mickey Mouse and Princess Tiana to the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest will co-host the event.

If anyone can create awesome parade floats, it should be Disney. While I can't imagine having the time to watch a parade on Christmas day, I will definitely record it for the kids. Maybe when they get tired of playing with all of the new toys they will want to relax and watch it. The theme this year, admirably, is "Seasons of Giving," which corresponds to Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" campaign in which Disney will celebrate volunteerism by giving a free, one-day admission to a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park to 1 million people in the United States and Canada who perform volunteer service with a participating organization starting January 1, 2010.

The two-hour televised special will air nationally in High-definition December 25 on ABC-TV at 10 a.m. Eastern and 9 a.m. Central, Mountain and Pacific times.

Handy Manny, a popular character among preschoolers and star of the Playhouse Disney show Handy Manny, will share the importance of washing hands and offer other tips to prevent the spread of germs, especially during flu season, in a new interstitial segment that will premiere Friday, December 11 (9:25 a.m. ET/PT) on the Disney Channel. The interstitial will recur multiple times daily and will also be available at PlayhouseDisney.com, with a link to the Center for Disease Control's flu prevention micro-site and printable tips for parents on how to prevent and treat the flu.

Other characters, like Elmo, are also continuing to remind children about healthy habits such as hand washing and coughing into the sleeve. The reminders are good for preschoolers, who may not be getting the info from school. The schools in our neck of the woods certainly are serious about preventing flu. My daughter tells me that they have to wash their hands many times throughout the day, and we get constant email reminders about flu prevention tips and the schools' sick child policies. For preschoolers, though, it's up to us parents, and I guess their favorite TV characters, to teach flu prevention practices.

(Photo © Disney.)

Now back from our long road trip, we are three Roald Dahl books wiser. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I have to say, is now one of our family's absolute favorites. We had a blast reading that book and comparing it with both versions of the movie. We unanimously chose the movie starring Johnny Depp as our favorite, and it seemed to be truer to the book. Although, there were a few scenes that were not in the book, and we are wondering if they were at all influenced by Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which we are all very excited to read next (thanks to K.C. for the suggestion of that one on my previous Roald Dahl post).

We also enjoyed reading Fantastic Mr. Fox, but the kids were not as impressed by the movie. They are too young to understand the humor, and they got bored half way through. James and the Giant Peach was also a fun read, and the movie is decent. We didn't have a chance to finish Matilda yet, but we will soon see if that becomes a new favorite, since my three little girls are sure to be excited about the the fact that the main character is a girl.